peekedvspeggedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“peeked” and “pegged” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,994
“peeked” frequency rank
#26,548
“pegged” frequency rank
71542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peeked pegged
Definition simple past and past participle of peek simple past and past participle of peg

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set peeked and pegged apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
peeked
6 ch
pegged

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. peeked (/piːkt/) and pegged (/pɛɡd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peeked is recorded at frequency rank #44,994, classified as averb, pronounced /piːkt/. pegged is at rank #26,548, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɛɡd/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 71542, this pair ranks #46,312 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of peeked vs pegged

Shared letters: dep. Private to "peeked": k. Private to "pegged": g.

"peeked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "pegged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peekedepeked · peeekd · peekde · peekedd · peekked · peked · pekeed · ppeeked
  • peggedepgged · peged · pegegd · peggde · peggedd · pgeged · ppegged

Frequency comparison

peeked#44,994
pegged#26,548

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peeked" and "pegged" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/piːkt/ versus /pɛɡd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "peeked" or "pegged"?
"pegged" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,548 in our English list, against #44,994 for "peeked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering peeked vs pegged

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “peeked” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list